I threw a Happy Birthday Jesus party for our homeschool co-op class last week. This is a party that I usually plan every year. It varies from year to year and sometimes I have it at my house. This year we blew up lots of balloons….sang Happy Birthday Jesus…..we made “gospels granolas” and studied the different symbol meanings of Christmas. I made this cake and it turned out really, really well. I have done several versions and this is my favorite! We had hats, steamers, horns, hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers and the cake. It was such a great birthday party! Here is the recipe for the cake:

A friend of ours invited us to this event at their church. It was so nice and meaningful for everyone! There was a live nativity and even a place to dress as shepherds and men and women of Bethlehem and have pictures made! The church served delicious “shepherd’s stew” and potato soup. The town of Bethlehem was so great….as we entered the gates we passed Roman soldiers and then stopped to sign the census….after that there were about twenty booths…olive oil pressing, potter’s wheel, dying cotton, wood chopping, bread baking, candle dipping, weaving, and more…..We had a great night!

This is my late post from last Wednesday!:) This is one of our favorite Christmas side dish recipes. It is a very southern dish and I believe originated in the Junior League cookbook in Baton Rouge in the 70’s. We have had it every year I can remember for Christmas.

Spinach Madeleine

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

2 packages frozen chopped spinach

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons chopped onion

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup spinach liquid

1 (6-ounce) roll jalapeno cheese, cut into small pieces

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 teaspoon celery salt

Directions

Cook spinach according to directions on package. Drain and reserve liquid. Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add flour, stirring until blended and smooth, but not brown. Add onion and cook until soft but not brown. Add evaporated milk and reserved spinach liquid slowly, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cook until smooth and thick; continue stirring. Add the cheese, Worcestershire, black pepper, celery salt, garlic salt, red pepper, and salt, to taste. Stir until melted. Combine with cooked spinach. This may be served immediately or put into a casserole and topped with buttered bread crumbs. This flavor is improved if the latter is done and kept in the refrigerator overnight. This may also be frozen.

This month in our homeschool co-op I have been teaching a unit on Handel. We started off the program learning and reviewing the instruments in the symphony, the placement of the instruments, and the instrument families. We listened to Peter and the Wolf and began to identify the different instruments. I brought in my laptop and we listened to each instrument and to various pieces of Handel”s. We focused on Messiah and Water Music. We mapped Germany and England and made some Christmas crafts from both of these countries. We learned that advent calenders originated in Germany and we made our own version using Hershey kisses. We also made some English crackers.We also had some snacks related to the Baroque period and England and Germany. I also came up with a great BINGO game to help them learn all the great vocabulary words we learned. They loved this activity! We also made this stand-up symphony…it is best to use tag board. This is a great individual activity. Our family is actually going to the symphony to see Messiah this month. We are all so excited! These are some great links which we used in the study:

The Christmas tree is one of my favorite parts of Christmas….I love selecting the tree and putting up……stringing lots of lights and then sorting through all those wonderful decorations! I love the way the house smells with a live tree! After Christmas the tree goes off to be recycled and turned into mulch by the town. The ornaments are a very fun part of our tree. We have collected lots of special ornaments over the years and it is so fun to pull each one out and remember where we were when got the ornament. We started a tradition a while back where we give each girl an ornament for Christmas and then when they leave and have their own home we can pass their collection of ornaments to them. I always get one for myself too where I will be able to more easily part with ornaments! We are planning to drink hot chocolate this year as we pull all our Christmas decorations for our “holiday” closet!

Here is an ornament project we are going to do this year. It has several different ornaments such as candy cane, wreaths, bows, bells, candles, and stars and then has a story to go with each one. For example, the bell stands for ringing bells to guide lost sheep back to the fold and the candy cane, represents the shape of the shepherd’s crook which is used to bring lost lambs back to the fold.

Boil the water, sugar, cinnamon sticks and cloves on stove for about 5 minutes. Turn off stove. Add tea bags and steep for 5 minutes. Remove the bags. Add the juices and the lemonade. Serve hot from the stove. If storing left over tea, remove steeper of cloves and cinnamon sticks before placing in refrigerator.

About Me

I am a daughter of the King Jesus (Zechariah 9:9), wife to a wonderful husband, mom to four beautiful daughters, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, a teacher, a homeschooler, a nurse, a personal trainer and health coach, a business owner, a lover of books, a lover of adventure, a lover of life, always looking and lifting my eyes to the hills...

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